Review of Tuileries funfair 2019-20, Paris, France

The Tuileries funfair is a traditional family fair that takes place every year from June to August, in a place steeped in history: the Jardin des Tuileries. During the summer holidays, a traditional funfair is set up in the Tuileries Gardens. Children and adults, tourists and Parisians all enjoy the attractions: bumper cars, ghost trains, shooting gallery, hall of mirrors, 1900s wooden horses merry-go-round. There are also a few skill games such as tin can alley and duck fishing – a firm favourite with youngsters.

Located in the prestigious and central Jardin des Tuileries, this funfair is smaller in size compared to the Foire du Trône, but it still attracts many visitors as the attractions are many and varied, complete with shows and concerts on certain days. In the middle of summer, it allows Parisians and tourists alike to see the garden in a new light, to add to a walk in the countryside the pleasure of adrenaline on the carousels, the mythical Ferris Wheel, or the many games of skill and by chance.

The Tuileries funfair hosts more than 60 fairground attractions (including 20 carousels), wooden horses, ice palace, bumper cars, ghost trains, rifle shooting, duck fishing, trampoline, toboggan, climbing… The Ferris wheel is of course the unmissable merry-go-round of the party. Don’t miss the “6G”, the merry-go-round that spins at 140 km/h!

Merry-go-rounds of various stripes are the stars of the show: you’ll have the chance to mount a vintage carrousel dating from 1900, as well as a zippy modern 6G – a merry-go-round that at the breakneck speed of 140km/h. Seek out a sugar rush from one of the many food stalls serving fairground staples – crêpes, beignets, churros, ice cream and that perennial childhood favourite: candyfloss.

As a family, as a couple or with friends, the Tuileries Festival also be an opportunity to enjoy fairground culinary specialties: cotton candy, candy apples, pancakes, waffles, churros, donuts and marshmallows.

Kids love the trampolines, climbing activity, and the giant slide. Whether you visit with family or friends, relax and stroll along the main thoroughfare with some fairground treats (candy floss, croustillant, Italian ice cream, crepes, doughnuts, toffee apples, hot sandwiches, etc.).

Access to the fair is free but the attractions are paying. There are passes at attractive prices to participate in the many attractions. For the comfort of everyone, there is no sound system at the funfair in the Tuileries.

Tuileries garden
The Tuileries Festival is traditional and family-friendly takes place in the superb setting of the Jardin des Tuileries, between the Concorde and the Louvre Museum.

The Tuileries Garden is a public garden located between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. Created by Catherine de’ Medici as the garden of the Tuileries Palace in 1564, it was eventually opened to the public in 1667 and became a public park after the French Revolution. In the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, it was a place where Parisians celebrated, met, strolled and relaxed.

Since 2014, the Louvre has had a specifically dedicated sub-directorate for gardens. It carries out research projects on the history of the gardens of the Domaine national du Louvre and the Tuileries, its crafts and its collection of outdoor sculptures. Research and work reinforce the history of gardens as a discipline that is now fully part of the establishment’s orientations.

The gardens of the Domaine national du Louvre and the Tuileries are a veritable open-air sculpture museum. The first statues that are still in place arrived during the Regency from 1716, coming from Versailles and Marly, and some date from the end of the 17th century. Since then, in successive waves, sculpture has continued to invest the Tuileries and the Carrousel, as well as the gardens located to the east (Oratory, Raffet and Infante).

Apart from the vases in the garden, the rest of the furniture – seats, lampposts, panels, etc. – clearly has a heritage character. Finally, we can consider that certain recreational attractions or social practices belong to the intangible heritage, such as the small sailboats that children have been sailing on the basins for more than two centuries.

Jardin du Carrousel
Also known as the Place du Carrousel, this part of the garden used to be enclosed by the two wings of the Louvre and by the Tuileries Palace. In the 18th century it was used as a parade ground for cavalry and other festivities. The central feature is the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, built to celebrate the victories of Napoleon, with bas-relief sculptures of his battles by Jean Joseph Espercieux. It was originally surmounted by the Horses of Saint Mark from Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Venice, which had been captured in 1798 by Napoleon. In 1815, following the Battle of Waterloo and Bourbon restoration, the horses were sent back to Venice and replaced in 1826 by a new group of sculpture, selected by the restored monarch, representing the triumph of peace.

The elevated terrace between the Carrousel and the rest of the garden used to be at the front of the Tuileries Palace. After the Palace was burned in 1870, it was made into a road, which was put underground in 1877. The terrace is decorated by two large vases which used to be in the gardens of Versailles, and two statues by Aristide Maillol; the Monument to Cézanne on the north and the Monument aux morts de Port Vendres on the south.

The Moat of Charles V is a vestige of the original fortifications of the Louvre Palace, which was then at the edge of the city. It was rebuilt vy Charles V of France in the 14th century, Two stairways parallel to the Arc du Triumph du Carrousel lead down into the moat. On the west side of the moat are traces left by the fighting during the unsuccessful siege of Paris by Henry IV of France in 1590 during the French Wars of Religion.

Since 1994 the moat has been decorated with statues from the facade of the old Tuileries Palace and with bas-reliefs made in the 19th century during the Restoration. These were originally intended to replace the Napoleonic bas-reliefs on the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, but they were never put in place.

The Grand Carré
The Grand Carré (Large Square) is the eastern, open part of the Tuilieries garden, close to the Louvre, which still follows the formal plan of the Garden à la française created by André Le Nôtre in the 17th century.

The eastern part of the Grand Carré, surrounding the circular pond, was the private garden of the king under Louis Philippe and Napoleon III, separated from the rest of the Tuileries by a fence. Most of the statues in the Grand Carré were put in place in the 19th century.

The large round pond is surrounded by statues on themes from antiquity, allegory, and ancient mythology. Statues in violent poses alternate with those in serene poses. On the south side, starting from the east entrance of the large round pond. On the north side, starting at the west entrance to the pond.

The Grande Allée and Grand Couvert
The Grand Couvert is the central, tree-covered portion of the garden. It is divided by the Grande Allée, the wide path that runs from the Round pond to the gates of the Place de la Concorde. Most of the trees are relatively recent, with only a small number dating back to the early 19th century or earlier. The Couvert was extensively replanted in the 1990s, with eight hundred trees added since 1997. The wind storm of 1999 caused extensive damage, and brought down a number of the oldest trees.

The two outdoor cafes in the Grand Couvert are named after two famous cafes once located in the garden; the café Very, which had been on the terrasse des Feuillants in the 18th–19th century; and the café Renard, which in the 18th century had been a popular meeting place on the western terrace.

The alleys of the Couvert are decorated with two exedra, low curving walls built to display statues, which were installed during the French Revolution. They were completed in 1799 by Jean Charles Moreau, and are the only surviving elements of a larger proposed garden plan by painter Jacques-Louis David made in 1794. They are now decorated with plaster casts of moldings on mythological themes from the park of Louis XIV at Marly.

The Esplanade des Feuillants
The Terrace and Esplanade des Feuillants are parallel wide pathways that runs alongside the Rue de Rivoli on the north side of the garden. The terrace was originally created in the 17th century by André Le Nôtre for Louis XIV; it then separated the garden from a row of convents that bordered the garden.

The convent was closed during the Revolution and turned into a clubhouse for a revolutionary faction called the Feuillants. The wide esplanade alongside it was originally planted with mulberry trees by King Henry IV of France, then with orange trees after the French Revolution. Now the esplanade is left open, and used for large outdoor events or temporary pavilions. It hosts a assortment of 19th and early 20th century statues and monuments.

The Octagonal Basin and entrance from to the Place de la Concorde
The plan of the garden at the west end, adjoining the Place de la Concorde, is similar to that of Le Notre’s original plan. The central element is the large octagonal basin, popular with lunching Parisian office workers and children with miniature sailboats. Two horseshoe-shaped ramps give access to the terraces overlooking the Place del la Concorde.

The architecture and the ornate grill of the gateway to the garden were crested beginning in 1757 by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, the royal architect of Louis XV, and designer of the Place de La Concorde and its fountains, obelisk and surrounding buildings.

The octagonal basin is surrounded by group of statues installed there in the 18th century. They include allegorical works depicting the four seasons, alternating with heroic figures from Ancient Rome, including Julius Caesar, Hannibal, and Agrippina-Plotine. These are copies; the originals are in the Louvre.

The Orangerie, the Jeu de Paume, and West Terrace of the Tuileries
The two western terraces of the garden overlook the Place de la Concorde, and are separated by the formal entrance and central axis of the garden. The terrace by the Seine is close to the old western gateway of Paris, the Porte de la Conference, which was built by Henry III of France in the 16th century, and was in place until 1720. In the 17th century the terrace was occupied by a famous cabaret, la Garenne de Renard. Now it is home to the Musée de l’Orangerie, which was first built in 1852 under Napoleon III by the architect Firmin Bourgeois to shelter citrus trees during the winter. Since 1927 its main attraction has been a series of eight of Claude Monet’s Water Lilies series. It also displays the Walter-Guillaume collection of Impressionist painting.

The terrace of the Orangerie displays four works of sculpture by Auguste Rodin: Le Baiser (1881–1898); Eve (1881) and La Grande Ombre (1880) and La Meditation avec bras (1881–1905). It also has a modern work, Grand Commandement blanc (1986) by Alain Kirili. The terrace in front of the Jeu de Paume displays a notable work of modern sculpture, Le Belle Constumé, by 20th century artist Jean Dubuffet.

On the north of the garden, alongside the Rue de Rivoli, is the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume. It was originally a court for the sport of “Jeu de Paume”, a form on indoor tennis. It was built in 1861 under Napoleon III and enlarged in 1878. It became an annex of the Musée du Luxembourg dedicated to contemporary art from outside France. It held a large collection of impressionist art from 1947 until 1986, when these works were transferred to the new Musee d’Orsay. In 1927 it became an annex of the Luxembourg Palace Museum for the display of modern and contemporary art.